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Small Huntsville business booming despite the pandemic

Fitness Fox Headbands' sales doubled from 2019 to 2020. Now, they ship out about 20,000 headbands a year.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — It's been over a year since COVID-19 reached Alabama and shut down countless businesses, but for some small businesses, it was a different story.

During the pandemic, people took to online shopping like never before. That was a good thing for Fitness Fox Headbands as more and more people discovered their shop online.

Fitness Fox owner Alix Defatta said, "Ours was actually a positive change. We had a lot of growth during the pandemic probably because a lot of people were at home shopping online."

How did Fitness Fox Headbands start?

Defatta began making and selling non-slip headbands on Etsy in 2014. The business is now grown to a team of three.

It wasn't until last year when they made and donated hundreds of face masks to local frontline health care workers that things took a turn. Once they started selling face masks to the public is when business really began to boom.

"We switched kind of from headbands to selling masks and that really helped us a lot to grow and create more of a client base," said Defatta.

With a good online foundation, the local headband shop was set. Their sales doubled from 2019 to 2020. Now, they ship out about 20,000 headbands a year.

Fitness Fox's success during the pandemic didn't come without hard work.

How did Fitness Fox grow during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Defatta says after she had a baby, she was back to work less than a week later. That kind of dedication allowed her business to extend its reach much further than Madison County.

"We have a bunch of returning customers in Canada, and there's one in Ireland that always buys from us," said Defatta.

Defatta says she's thankful her small business can bring a uniqueness to Huntsville and to share that around the world.

You can keep up with Fitness Fox on their Instagram.

WATCH: Behind the scenes look at how Fitness Fox headbands are made

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